UT Lady Vols softball seeded No. 10 for NCAA tournament, open at home

Tennnessee has been without either Matty Moss or Caylan Arnold at different points of the SEC season
Dan Fleser, USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Lady Vol pitcher, Caylan Arnold, prepares for a pitch during their game against Kentucky at Sherry Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday, April 29, 2018.(Photo: Shawn Millsaps/Special to News Sentinel)

Tennessee's road to the Women's College World Series will begin in Knoxville. A longer route has been laid out for the Lady Vols, though, in order to reach Oklahoma City.

Tennessee (45-12) was tabbed as the No. 10 national seed in the 64-team field and will open against Monmouth (32-14) at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Lee Stadium. UT will be making its 15th consecutive tournament appearance and 16th in program history.

James Madison (42-14) and Ohio (38-15) will play at 3 p.m. Friday in the other opening game of the double-elimination regional.

Friday's winners will play at noon Saturday with an elimination game and the losers' bracket final to follow. The region championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m. If a second game is needed to determine a winner it will follow.

The Lady Vols watched ESPN2's tournament selection show on the stadium scoreboard late Sunday night. In an interview posted on the SEC Network's website, senior shortstop Meghan Gregg said, "seeing our name pop up on the screen gave us chill bumps."

The Lady Vols were hoping for a top eight seed, which would've offered a chance to host a super regional if they advanced. Still, Gregg said UT's seeding is "a really big deal."

Monmouth won its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship this season and has won 24 of its last 25 games to make its first NCAA appearance.

Tennessee finished fourth in the SEC during the regular season and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament last weekend before being eliminated by top-seed and eventual tournament champion Florida, 10-2.

The Lady Vols finished one victory short of the WCWS last season, losing to SEC rival Texas A&M 5-3 in the decisive third game of a super regional before a record crowd of 2,459 at Lee Stadium.

Tennessee last reached Oklahoma City in 2015.

All 13 SEC teams made the tournament field for the second consecutive year and nine of the teams were seeded in the top 16. Florida, which was seeded second, and No. 7 seed Georgia were the two conference teams to receive top eight seeds.

The winners of Tennessee's and Georgia's regionals will meet in a super regional.

Gregg said the Lady Vols are stressing "confidence and consistency." The latter quality will apply to their preparation this week.

"It's still the same game and the same diamond," she said. "We're going to prepare like we always do."